Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Not eavesdropping. Okay, I’m fully eavesdropping. But a sudden intrusion into Ash and me, into our little world we’ve made overnight, has me on edge.
And I don’t like it. Not one bit.
“…I hesitated to make the call to action, Ash. Bridget rang, letting me know they were having their fire drill…It just didn’t click. The same building could have actually been alight….”
It’s him. It’s the old fire chief. I spoke to him the morning of the drill and again after Ash rescued me.
I puff a sigh of relief, figuring it’s just Ash’s boss dropping by to talk shop.
Until he gets to why he’s actually come here today.
“But that’s another matter, Ash. I think I’m long overdue for retirement myself. I can’t mess up on emergency calls like that. It’s time for you to take the helm…God knows we’ve noticed your absence after one day,” he reflects, murmuring something about the city needing its hero back.
“But I’m here because of Bridget,” the chief says in a firmer tone.
Shifting the window and myself a little, I can look down and see the older man folding his arms. A pipe in his mouth that’s not lit, but he’s drawing on it as he chooses his words.
“Oh?” Ash asks, sounding like an innocent little boy. I have to cover my mouth as I giggle.
“Yeah, ‘Oh,’” the older man replies gruffly.
“Her parents reported her missing last night, and the boys in blue won’t budge for another twenty-four hours,” he growls, fidgeting in his pocket for some tobacco which he stacks in his pipe and lights. He blows a plume of gray-blue smoke, which seems to relax him.
“Missing?” Ash says, knitting his brow, casting an eye up to the window I’m looking down from before blocking his chief’s view with his body.
Not giving me away, but somehow he’s sensed me listening in.
“Ash. I wasn’t born yesterday. I saw the way you two were making eyes at each other after she jumped.”
Ash doesn’t move a muscle, which for him is hard, I know.
He doesn’t say a word either, just lets the old man say his piece.
“You were off duty, so technically, you’re not breaking any rules by…ahem… getting involved with a complete stranger. It’s her parents I’m worried for. They think she’s run away or worse. Apparently, she had a fever or something. She could be sick, Ash, and we need her back. Back home where she belongs,” he says in a tone I don’t like.
The kind of tone I’ve heard from my parents ever since I can remember.
Ash is silent for a long time, and his chief puffs furiously at his pipe before demanding a reply from him.
“Well?” he barks, and I feel myself jump in my skin.
But Ash only takes a slow and deliberate breath in before answering.
“If I see her, I’ll let her know,” he drones, uninterested.
“Ash,” his boss cautions him again slowly. “Don’t play games. Just tell me what’s going on, please.”
“Fine,” Ash growls, almost turning his head to look up again, but I can see his neck straining to keep his focus on the chief.
“She’ll be home before supper. How about that?” he says with a note of finality.
The tone in his voice, those words make my heart sink and my stomach ache.
“That’s better,” the chief grunts, and they have some weird kind of macho face-off, each one eyeballing the other until the chief decides he’s got what he came for.
Ash walks him to his truck, and I can’t hear what else they say, but he waves his chief goodbye, and it isn’t long before I hear his heavy step on the stairs.
Ash smiles when he sees me, but I’m not feeling it.
“How could you say that?” I shout at him. “You may as well have just handed me over. Was I right about what I said? About you just wanting me until you’d had your way?”
I go to shout again, but my voice breaks into hurt-sounding sobs until Ash moves over to me, hugging me close.
He shushes me with his calm, deep tones, explaining himself.
“I said you’d be home before supper. I didn’t say which home, did I?” he asks, stroking my hair back and pecking the top of my head.
“But my parents? The police,” I exclaim, and Ash slides his hands down my arms until he’s holding both my hands.
“Call ‘em. Tell ‘em. Or we can go around there, and I’ll tell them myself,” he suggests in the same even tone.
His response makes me gulp hard because I know he could.
I know he would.
“I think we should,” I whisper, feeling like I’m betraying myself now, but only because I want to stop worrying about my parents.
I want to forget all about my stupid job and just be with Ash.
Just have every day like we’ve had it so far, except with no interruptions and definitely no parents.